The power of ONE

Madeleine Buchholz in Washington, D.C., where she recently started interning for Rep. Betty McCollum.

Photography by KELLI LIEGEL

Political science student Madeleine Buchholz won’t graduate until May, but she’s already well on her way to making a difference in the world.

After transferring to the U as a junior, she established a University of Minnesota chapter of the ONE Campaign, a grassroots organization started by U2’s Bono. Its mission is to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease by raising public awareness and influencing political leaders.

A recipient of the Mulhollem Cravens Leadership Scholarship, Buchholz spent the summer interning at ONE’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, where she analyzed policies behind key bills in Congress and represented ONE at events.

“Every bill ONE sponsors needs to be supported by both sides of the aisle,” she says. “Their commitment to bipartisanship was really inspiring.”

Buchholz says her time at ONE’s headquarters convinced her that she would like to do public policy work for a government agency or a nonprofit—and that she wants to do that work on Capitol Hill.